Flawed Perception
by JinxedCobra
Summary: For the past two years, Cora had gone unoticed and she liked it that way. When five certain freshman arrive at Sky High, that changes and she's wishing to be left alone again... or is she?


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Sky High, however, Cora is my creation. Keep your hands to yourself. 'glares'

**Author's Note:** Thank you all for the reviews, but why did no one call me out on the disclaimer? I only _just_ noticed I forgot it. Shame on me... thanks guys. :p

**Chapter One**

Perception is a strange thing. One can read a book in the middle of a noisy room and completely comprehend the book, but not recall any of the conversation around them.

Perspective is unique to the person and can be faulty… or manipulated.

For example, the front entrance to Sky High.

Students were just arriving for the day, others were hanging out and talking to their friends. Over two hundred people and not one will notice anyone sitting by the front steps of the school.

No one will notice how their eyes slide away too quickly to really _see _anything and only peripherally, can one barely make out the girl sitting there.

It wasn't a hero class power, like invisibility or camouflage, but Cora didn't mind.

It had allowed her to slip through the past two years unnoticed and for that, she was grateful.

Super hero school hadn't originally been in the cards for her, but then, life doesn't always go how you expect.

Turns out, Cora was an anomaly. A "super powered" child born to ordinary parents. For that reason alone, she was granted a scholarship to Sky High. Not that she was ever going to be a hero.

Make no mistake, Cora respected heroes and couldn't find fault with a school that trained them.

But she _wasn't _a hero. She was barely a sidekick… hero support… whatever.

Getting by with mediocre grades and lacking any impressive physical ability, her powers were her only saving grace.

Not that Sky High was the "ultimate torture". Cora had made the choice to go, mainly because she knew her parents wanted the best for her and normal high school wouldn't have been much different anyway.

There was the same social pecking order, which she ignored, and bullies tormenting younger students. The only difference was that the students had powers.

When the bell rang, Cora slipped her sketchbook into her backpack and joined the crowd of students entering the building. Making her way to her locker, she was careful not to bump into anyone. No one ever noticed her, sure, but that didn't mean she was intangible and she didn't want to scare anyone.

And that was how she made it through the day; avoiding people in the halls and only sometimes paying attention in class. She did enjoy Super History, though.

Lunch time came and went, as usual. Instead of eating in the cafeteria, Cora had staked out a spot outside, between the school building and the gym, safely out of sight.

After lunch, her next class was a study hall in the library and she took the time to get her homework from her morning classes done.

That day, in particular, she was working on a research paper for history class and was trying to pick a subject. The subject was a hero of the student's choice and Cora was going through the Hero's Almanac, hoping to find someone who wasn't a stereotypical hero, like the Commander, for example.

Looking up at the clock, she noticed her time was almost over and closing the book she was reading, got up to return it to the shelf. She wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings, few other students were in the library and she was trying to recall what was planned for Sidekick Science with Medulla. Joy.

Someone bumped into her and Cora heard something fall to the floor.

"Sorry!" It was a short kid, with glasses and wearing orange, an obvious bully magnet. Probably already had a few run ins with Speed and Lash, going on the near panic obvious in his voice.

Rolling her eyes, Cora slipped away, careful not to touch him again. She wasn't the type to go off on some kid for bumping into her and she couldn't stand the school bullies. Took a lot of guts to beat up on someone smaller than them. Jerks.

Making her way back to the table, she grabbed her books and put them in her backpack.

"That is _so _cool." Cora froze, in the middle of zipping up her backpack and looked over her shoulder, seeing the orange kid looking in her general direction. "I mean, you _do_ know you're not supposed to use your powers outside of the school gym, right?"

She smirked slightly, not saying anything and slung her bag onto her back. Sure, she knew the rule, but no one noticed and she had never gotten into trouble.

"I just didn't want you to get into trouble." Orange kid piped up again, following her as she made her way to the library door. "I guess no one really notices you, though." Casting a look behind her, Cora was wondering why he was following her or, more to the point, _how_ was he following her. She wasn't exactly easy to keep track of.

"It's weird though." Oh lord, he was _still_ talking. "I can't really look _at _you, but I know you're there." Okay, now go _away_. Seriously, no one in this school has _ever_ talked to her. "I'm Ethan, by the way." Seriously?

"You're really quiet." So much for losing him in the hall. "Seriously, if I hadn't heard the zipper, I wouldn't have even known you were there." That was the idea, she thought. Noise were it shouldn't be tends to catch people's attention and she had learned how to be quiet. Well, barring today, apparently.

Not that it helped Cora lose her tail. Despite the hall traffic, Ethan kept up and she couldn't help but wonder how he was doing it.

"What's your name?" He asked and she, knowing she would fully regret it, finally answered.

"Cora." She said tersely, irritated. She really wasn't a people person and while it was obvious he meant well, Ethan was seriously trying her patience.

"Th-that's a r-really pretty name." He stuttered and Cora smiled, realizing that he hadn't expected her to be a girl. Ah, the power of assumption.

"Thank you." She muttered, deciding not to let him flounder in embarrassment. Awkward silences weren't something she was good with and he really was a nice kid.

"You really do have a cool power, though." Ethan said, a little more confident. "All I can do is melt."

"You aren't your power." Cora stated, frowning "It's a part of you, sure, but it doesn't define you."

"That's interesting." Ethan said, looking surprised and laughed quietly. "Too bad no one else seems to share that opinion." He paused slightly. "Except Layla. She thinks the whole hero/sidekick thing is fascist."

"Don't you have a class to get to?" Cora asked, not wanting to get into _that_ conversation.

"Yeah, Mr. Boy has us going ove…" When he trailed off, she looked at him and noticed that he was frozen, an expression of terror on his face. Looking around, she saw a lanky figure just down the hall. Lash. And from the look of things, he was just starting to look back in their direction.

Cora quickly stepped into Lash's line of sight, blocking Ethan from the bully's view. The smirk on his face faded as his eyes darted around, looking for the smaller boy and confused, he shook his head and walked away.

Sighing, Cora grabbed her backpack and started walking to her next class, Ethan predictably following after.

"Thanks." He said, curiosity setting in. "You can cloak other people?"

"Only when I'm in front of them." She said, irritated again. "I gotta go."

"Oh, yeah, see you later!" Ethan called after her, unaware of people giving him strange looks.

_Not if I can help it._

Thankfully, Cora was able to get to the bus undetected, though it was more to do with Ethan being in a different class and, subsequently, on another bus.

Making her way to her seat, she sat down and let her head fall back against the seat, hoping that what happened today was just a one-time thing. Ethan was a nice kid, but she was used to being left alone and preferred it that way.

The space next to Cora remained empty and while she amused herself with the thought that people were wary of the semi-ghostly presence that was always there, she knew better.

The seat dipped slightly as someone sat down and the air warmed considerably. The smell of leather invaded her senses and in her mind's eye, she recalled dark eyes and longish hair, with a few red strands.

Warren Peace, Sky High's resident bad boy… _right_. Cora knew people were afraid of him and she knew why, but she really didn't care. As far as she was concerned, he wasn't his father and wasn't going to randomly start burning people alive.

Cora braced herself in her seat, not at all looking forward to the ride home. It seemed like all the bus drivers were in an unspoken competition, based on the aerial acrobatics they liked to perform in the sky. She couldn't wait until they reached solid ground.


End file.
